Sunday, March 23, 2025

We made it to St Thomas yesterday. One couple flew home yesterday and the remaining 4 of us made our way here. We are renting a one-bedroom condo with a nice balcony overlooking the beach. They are individually owned but rented like a hotel. We arrived here in time to have lunch and swim in the pool for a couple of hours. Dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant overlooking the water and other islands. Our friends are very familiar with the area as the wife's mother and stepfather lived here for 10 years.

Right now we are listening to a very loud large rooster announcing the morning. Good thing the bedroom is on the other side of the condo.

Today we chartered a small powerboat to poke around St John which is right across from here. Apparently it is very different than this island, and neither DH nor I have ever been there.

Home tomorrow and I have to admit I am looking forward to picking Justice up on Tuesday morning. He seems to have settled in there well though.

DD is still in the hospital but they may have her discharged later in the day to be called tomorrow with the schedule for the D&C. She is awaiting the doctor to find out the plan today. Her hemoglobin is still low but not as much so they may or may not give her another transfusion.

Have a superlative Sunday!

From yesterday's water taxi:

BEST HOLIDAY PHOTO EVER!

Agree with Ann, that is the best photo! All in on joy!

Yes Ann, the aunt connected to Creighton is my "Auntie Mame". She will not tell you what a big deal she is, but one time I was helping her clean files what to keep, what to toss. I find one where she collaborated with Desmond Tutu at a conference in South Africa. I argued she should keep that one. :)

The Minnesota Orchestra's marketing plan worked. After hearing a sampler concert, we are signing up for a 4 performance package. I think we will have plenty to do in retirement.

Bonus before the show, I heard a family speaking Portuguese, so we chatted with them about our mutual love of Brazil. It was fun to talk about our plans to spend January there next year and not get the semi panicked look many give us: what are you thinking?!! Instead, they were all in on the idea, and wished us a good time.

On the other hand, I'm no longer sure I want to try Egypt this fall. Maybe. I feel like the international scene in that part of the world might be getting too hot right now. I mean, when is it ever not in conflict, and Egypt is not Gaza, but it's awfully close. We've pegged May as the month we decide, yes or no.

And I'm not going to lie, going through customs back into my own country feels a bit daunting right now too. I've always known you're in a no mans land in terms of due process, but it seems to also be heating up. My Aussie sister was detained and deported once despite entering and leaving the U.S. within all legal parameters a number of times, using a tourist visa, and being married to an American. Her application for a green card was underway, but she was deported because an agent decided she was a risk to overstay. (Again, despite entering and leaving as required by the visa numerous times previously) They strip searched her, and put her in a jail cell, took all her papers, and wouldn't allow her to call her husband. (Who, by now, was frantic because she didn't get off the plane in Utah, and didn't know where she was). Finally they released her, put her on a plane back to Australia. No one knows exactly what her "crime" was. Clearly not serious, because she now has a green card, and will be a naturalized citizen in a few months.

Much easier to navigate: a non stop flight to Memphis. We leave one week from today. Packing will be easier, because I left clean clothes from the Florida trip in my suitcase. So far the weather forecast in encouraging: mid to high 70s. Sounds like sandal weather to me!

GOOD GRIEF! What a horrific series of events your Aussie sister has been through. Although are we sure that a green card will be sufficient at some point? And can you imagine how much worse her odds would be if she had darker skin and/or non-European features!

P.P.S. Right after September 11 I found myself rather mysteriously on the Terrorist No-Fly List. Although TSA never refused to let me fly, I did spend that next year of constant business air travel having to arrive at the airport two or more hours before my flight left. During that year I was interrogated privately, undressed down to my underwear, treated rudely by TSA supervisors, and simultaneously irritated and bored by all the lengthy performance art required by all of us to play these roles.

Over the next year, with the help of my Congresswoman's office, I learned through a series of goofy questions--like "I'm not really asking about xyx, but if I were asking about xyz what would your answer be?"--I learned that there is an I.R.A. member out there somewhere who has the same last name as me. In any event, when I had sufficiently proven to have built a pretty concrete different avatar for myself over the decades, the Watchers finally took me off their list.

Omg! What an ordeal. My DD, a senior in high school, all of 18, also got on some kind of watchlist. Luckily, she was never taken to a private room (I would have lost my mind if this happened when we were traveling together, and I'd probably still be incarcerated myself) She got pulled out of line for a pat down every time she flew for a couple of years, often asked to take her hair down because she had a thick top knot, or they would squeeze her hair. She went on a choir trip that spring to Europe, and she warned her friends and choir director this would happen. They thought she was kidding until they saw it at every single connection. No longer a problem, so somehow she got off the list.

But you having to disrobe without anyone giving you a definitive cause, this is why I feel we're in a no man's land in terms of due process with TSA and immigration. One would argue if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. I generally have held this belief: I am too unremarkable to draw attention. But with the increasing number of stories, I do feel uneasy. I'll keep traveling, but if I drove to Canada now, as I have done multiple times in my life, I would brace myself for shenanigans when I re-entered. And I'd plan to come back through Minnesota rather than Windsor/Detroit. And I really, really hope I'm wrong.

What an ordeal for people traveling in the US these days! Too many stories like this have been in the news lately.

What a great picture Liz!!!

128.1. Up a smidge. Hoping for some good bathroom time soon!

Busy day with church activities. And then home to try and figure out our internet mess. Changed location of our router very slightly to help with the picture on our ring doorbell and all went to hell. TV, computers, Alexa, DH?s X box all not working properly! A cluster F for sure! About half of it is in working order now! Some we may just give up on!

Made the Shepard?s pie soup again that we liked so well. Tomorrow will be fish tacos!

Yikes on all of the TSA horror stories!

Dang! Do you have a designated tech person in the family? 100% not me. And, did you already post the recipe for shepherd's pie soup and I missed it? Because I love soup and I love shepherd's pie :)